Vator Splash LA (May 2013)

Win sit-down meetings with top VCs and $30,000-plus worth of prizes

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Calling all entrepreneurs! Get ready for Vator Splash LA!

Win the chance to present on stage at Splash LA on the evening of May 30, in front of some 350 business professionals, comprising of executives from startups and large companies, angel investors, VCs, and media.

To be one of the top 10, you have to apply to this competition and be vetted by judges.

To qualify you must be under three years old, and have raised no more than $2 million in funding.

Even though success is not defined by how much money a company has raised, DogVacay, Getable, Thumbtack, Astrid, Udemy, Plink and Geeklist, to name a few, have gone on to raise millions of dollars collectively from venerable VCs, soon after presenting at Splash.

Here's some recent testimonials from past winners:

"At Vator Splash, I made great connections with a number of investors and had a number of follow-up meetings. We were able to raise our last round entirely from investors who discovered us from the publicity we generated from Vator Splash." Jon Paris, CEO and co-founder, Astrid

"Having the opportunity to demonstrate Apartment List at Vator Splash and talk about our vision to an audience of top-tier VC investors and entrepreneurs was an exciting honor. Bambi and team put on an great night of Silicon Valley networking. We made meaningful connections at Splash as well as on Vator that are proving fruitful for our business, and winning the start up competition was icing on the cake. Thanks Bambi and team for creating a great investor and entrepreneur community and packing the house with a fantastic audience at your events,"John Kobs, CEO and co-founder of Apartment List.

"Working with Vator, and Bambi, is a pleasure. She's really passionate about uniting great ideas with the right people. We actually tied for first in last years Vator Splash SF and as a direct result raised $150,000 from an investor who saw us pitch. TEEC Angels approached us right at the event and invested soon thereafter. Reuben Katz, CEO and founder of Geeklist.

"Events like Vator Splash are critical for startups to generate awareness. We were a top 10 finalist for Splash LA. It provided us with an amazing opportunity to network and gain exposure to a whole community of investors and VCs. Soon after, we raised $3M as a result of the momentum/exposure from the event and the platform in general." Peter Vogel, founder of Plink.

For details about how to win, see round details section.

What do the top 10 finalists win? The opportunity to give a three-minute presentation onstage. A professional video of their presentation produced by Vator. A free ticket to the event, and discounted tickets for their network. Discounted tickets for future Vator events. A bottle of wine. $24,000 of services from Rackspace. Free back-office consultation and work courtesy Backops.

The Splash winner (voted by judges) and People's Choice winner (voted by the audience) get: Same as top 10, a magnum of wine, courtesy Manifesto; a demo table at the next Splash event; Discounts to Vator events; opportunity to be an online judge for the next Splash; sit-down meetings with top VCs (Javelin Venture Partners, DFJ, Rustic Canyon Partners, CrossCut Ventures); two hours accounting consultation, courtesy KPMG; one-hour corporate, one-hour IP consultation, courtesy Wilson Sonsini. The Splash winner also wins an Apple iPad Mini.

Startups must be three years old or under. Start-ups must not have raised more than $2 million in funding. Start-ups must apply with a company profile on Vator.

Rules:

The popular vote determines the top 15 to 20 finalists. The number of finalists are determined at the end of the round.
Voters are limited to one vote per Participant for the entire competition. Participants may vote for their own company. Vator and the contest organizers have the right, in their sole discretion, to take whatever action they deem appropriate to uphold the integrity and reputation of Vator, the organizer and the competition, including the right to disqualify companies, void votes, or recalculate votes, in the event of, but not limited to, multiple votes from the same user from different IP addresses, or votes considered fraudulent, technical failures, errors or problems occurring with the site and/or Internet services, failure of judges to perform their duties, proxy voting or payment for votes.

Type:
Judges

Start date:
Wednesday, May 15, 2013 11:00 PM PDT

End date:
Wednesday, May 22, 2013 11:05 AM PDT

Vote weight: 10% popular vote from previous round and 90% judges.

Judging criteria

Novelty/Innovation

Does this product/service solve a clear market problem? Is it a new and novel approach to solve a problem? Is there enough differentiation that gives this idea a fighting chance against competitors?

Market potential

Is the market a big macro opportunity? Does this startup have a clear market niche and user group? Did they indicate clearly their go-to-market strategy to attract users? Did they clearly articulate their business model? Did they demonstrate how they will compete effectively? Is this business a venture-backed opportunity or a life-style business?

Team

Is the team relevant to the opportunity? Does the team have the expertise to succeed? Is the team clear about the objectives? Can the team convey the opportunity?

Requirements:

Startups must be three years old or under. Start-ups must not have raised more than $2 million in funding. Startups must apply with a company profile on Vator.

Ethan is Executive Director, Global Business Development at Warner Bros, and one of the program directors of Media Camp, the studio’s media-focused accelerator. He is responsible for identifying how emerging technologies will radically change the way consumers experience entertainment content, and the new business models that will facilitate those consumer shifts. Ethan has done extensive work in the area of innovation and facilitation as a catalyst for growth; this includes internal innovation initiatives targeting new processes to enable quicker ideation, prototyping, and launching of ideas to market, as well as external partnerships allowing for innovation through collaboration (through partnerships, JVs, commercial deals, and direct investments/accelerator models). He has a history of success in building and launching new business models and products to the market.

Ethan earned a BA in Economics from SDSU and an MBA from USC. When he is not working, Ethan enjoys brewing beer, cooking, gardening and playing the guitar

Managing Partner - Vator Investment Club; Early-stage startup advisor with over 15-years experience in business and corporate development for internet brands including Travelocity, Epicurious, Concierge.com, Wired and Style.com.

As a serial entrepreneur, investor and advisor Jack K.N. Tsai has shared his Startup expertise with entrepreneurs around the globe. With a down-to-earth style and keen eye for detail Jack lends his nearly 20 years of entrepreneurial knowledge in the areas of business plan development, operations process, strategic business execution as well marketing strategy and consumer research. Jack obtain his EMBA at UC Berkeley's HAAS School of Business. Currently, Jack is contributor mentor for student at Stanford Venture Technology Program, UC Berkeley Entrepreneurship, UCLA Anderson, USC Marshall, and CalTechJack is an active member of the Tech Coast Angels, TiE Angel Silicon Valley, Co-Chairman of the Tech Coast Angels Fast Pitch Competition, BusinessWeek Advisory Committee and the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council.Helping entrepreneurs bring their visions to life is what fuels Jack's passion for being an advisor. Fresh ideas, building something from nothing and continuous learning are the key elements that keep Jack energized and ready for more.

Graham is a Senior Marketing Manager at Rackspace and manages the Rackspace Startup Program. He received his BA and MBA from The University of Texas at Austin and has been working with startups at Rackspace for over 2 years. Prior to Rackspace, he worked as a product manager for an Austin-based startup.

Rackspace® Hosting (NYSE: RAX) is the open cloud company, delivering open technologies and powering more than 205,000 customers worldwide. Rackspace provides its renowned Fanatical Support® across a broad portfolio of IT products, including Public Cloud, Private Cloud, Hybrid Hosting and Dedicated Hosting.

The Rackspace Startup program was launched in March 2011 and is dedicated to helping startups succeed. Through the program, Rackspace offers hosting, mentorship, promotional opportunities and more to technology startups. Its Fanatical Support® serves as an additional team member for startups, allowing the rest of the team to focus on growing the business. And its broad product suite built on OpenStack is robust enough to handle nearly infinite growth while never locking in customers to a single vendor with proprietary technology.